Toto Wolff: Valtteri Bottas will be very, very strong in Canada

Mercedes

Wolff: Bottas will be very, very strong in Canada

After the disappointments of Monaco.

Martin Macdonald

Tuesday 28 May 2019 14:29

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Toto Wolff has backed Valtteri Bottas to have a better weekend at the Canada Grand Prix than he did in Monaco on Sunday, as the Finn limped to a third-place finish after suffering a puncture at the hands of Max Verstappen.

After showing “mind-blowing” speed, according to Wolff, in qualifying, Bottas failed to get near to Lewis Hamilton in the early stages, while is race was defined by a pitlane incident which saw Verstappen come out at the same time as him to attempt to get past.

The Dutchman subsequently received a five-second penalty for the incident, while Bottas got a puncture and dropped down two places.

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Bottas finished fourth-fastest, but gained a place on the podium thanks to the penalty given to Verstappen.

Wolff reckons the Finn will be eager to avoid similar mishaps in Canada.

“Valtteri 2019 is going to get out of this stronger,” the Mercedes team principal said.

“I think he has shown huge resilience and determination in these last races.

“His speed was mind-blowing in qualifying and I have no doubt that this will annoy the hell out of him and he’s going to come back strong, very very strong, in Montreal.

“Max lost a position because of the penalty and because of the manoeuvre, and Valtteri lost the second place, three points more lost, and Mercedes lost the 1-2.

“But then again, from the team’s point of view we are super happy with the 1-3. From Valtteri’s point, he will be gutted.

“He had the pace this weekend. He could’ve had pole in terms of raw speed and in the race P2 was the minimum I think.

“He was feeling this was taken away from him.”

After the drama of Monaco, Bottas is now 17 points adrift of Hamilton in the 2019 driver’s championship.